new mexico racing commission

Do you remember the 2012 TheNew York Times(NYT) exposé on horse racing titled, “BREAKDOWN, Death and disarray at America’s racetracks?” The lead photo accompanying the story was the dead carcass of a racehorse. The text beneath photo read as follows: “A 2-year-old quarter horse named Teller All Gone broke a front leg in a race on […]

Quarter Horses accounted for less than half of the races in New Mexico in 2017 but 80% of the positive drug tests, writes Joe Gorajec in his InsideRacingRegs blog at the HorseRacingReform.org website published by The Jockey Club and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Gorajec based the statement on the latest annual report from the […]

The New Mexico Racing Commission will permit horses from the barn of suspended Quarter Horse trainer S. Trey Wood to be transferred to other trainers, allowing the horses to run in the Aug. 16-17 trials for the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs. Wood already had 31 horses entered in the All American Futurity trials […]

Leading Quarter Horse trainer S. Trey Wood has been summarily suspended by New Mexico Racing Commission stewards after one of his horses tested positive for the prohibited substance albuterol. The suspension was issued Aug. 9 after 31 horses from Wood’s barn had been entered in Aug. 16 -17 time trials at Ruidoso Downs for the […]

One of five members of the New Mexico Racing Commission, Freda McSwane was removed from her post this week after refusing a request for her resignation. The Albuquerque Journal reports that the action stemmed from comments McSwane made at a public meeting back in May. “We basically perpetrated a fraud, in my opinion, on our veterinarians […]

Change is never easy, even when it’s for the better. Horsemen and officials in New Mexico have been learning that the hard way over the past few months. In June 2018, the New Mexico Racing Commission (NMRC) began a new drug testing contract with a new laboratory and, almost immediately, saw a rise in corticosteroid […]

On Jan. 16, the New Mexico Racing Commission (NMRC) Rules and Medication Committee voted to pass a rule that would make the drug albuterol a zero tolerance drug in the state of New Mexico. The new rule is intended to go into affect around May 1, 2019. The anticipated ban on albuterol is not breed […]

Racetracks across the country have closed in recent years but in New Mexico, five companies have submitted proposals to build a new one. They’re all vying for one available license to operate a racino. The New Mexico Racing Commission is under no obligation to offer the license to any of the bidders, but later this […]

A Las Vegas casino company hopes to dramatically revolutionize the horse racing experience. Full House Resorts has proposed building a $200 million resort in New Mexico featuring a grandstand that could move with the horses as they run. Design drawings portray a vehicle similar to a streetcar with the side facing the racetrack open. The […]

Purses are being held in two recent Grade1 Quarter Horse races at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico: for the winner and second-place finisher of the $801,564 Rainbow Derby on July 21 and for the runner-up in the $1,000,000 Rainbow Futurity on July 22. Drug tests flagged as positive from samples taken for those horses after their […]